How to Use an Android Phone As a Webcam For PC [Windows & Linux].

For most people a video call such as MSN or Skype, Google+ hangout or a video chat is something occasional. And when you want to start one, you need a webcam. But why spend money for a separate webcam when you can easily use your android phone's camera as a webcam?

The process involves streaming video from your phone to a particular port on your PC and having a PC driver software capture it and provide it as webcam video to any application that needs webcam access.

Don't get scared with the details. Its actually very easy and there are two ways to do it.

1. Use your android phone as webcam using Wifi.

Here, you phone video will be streamed and made available to your PC applications via WiFi. This is the easiest and most flexible way to do it.

Requirement - both your computer and your android phone should be connected to the same network with android connected via WiFi. That means you can either -

Connect both your phone and computer to the Internet using a wireless router.

Open the app and you will get the configuration screen where you can set the options for port, sound, video quality and username/password.

The default options are good enough, so scroll down and click on he "Start server" option.

Ip Webcam will now open your camera and start streaming the video to a particular IP address and port. Click on the "How do I connect" button appearing on the top left and choose "I'm using Wi-fi router" to get this IP address and port. You will get some thing like "http://10.42.43.89:8080".

Note this address down and type it in your PC web browser. You will get a page with links for various ways in which you can use your new webcam. From the list, you need to use either of the two links.

Connect to PC for use with Skype and other videochats on Windows.

Connect to PC for use with Skype and other videochats on Ubuntu GNU/Linux

Depending on your operating system (Windows or Linux), use the links to download and install the webcam driver on your PC.

Windows - For windows, the driver comes as an easy installer.Linux - For Linux, it comes as a script which you need to run in a terminal as root. Before running, change the value of the variable "WIFI_IP=" to the ip address from IP Webcam in the script. Make sure the computer is connected to the Internet when you run the script the first time. It will try to download and install additional files if your linux doesn't already have them. You need to run this script every time you want to use your android as webcam.

That's it. Now open Skype, Google+ hangout or any other video call application and for the video section, choose the webcam driver you just installed and start it. Here's a Google+ hangout with my android as webcam in Linux.

Tip: For Linux, disabling sound in IP Webcam settings could make the driver not to work.

2. Use your android phone as webcam using USB.

You can use your android as webcam even without wifi by connecting it to your PC via USB. But doing this requires extra work because android can communicate with PC via USB only in debugging mode by using adb.

Also, for USB mode, we need another app called DroidCam. Although the earlier IP Webcam app is more popular, it is more or less limited to WiFi connections especially for windows. So lets see how to configure your android as a webcam via USB -

Download DroidCam from android market,install it and open it on your phone. It will show a "Starting server" message.

Download and install the client application in your computer from Dev47Apps.

Start the DroidCam client and choose the "USB" option or button.

That's it. DroidCam will now open the camera on your phone and you can use it as webcam on your PC. Just configure the video settings of your video call application to use "DroidCam" driver. Here's my Google+ hangout with video from my android phone connected via USB.

For Linux, you can use the IP Webcam app as well. Just connect your phone via USB in debugging mode to your computer and start the driver script. It will detect and use adb to initiate a connection using USB automatically.

Arun

Hey Mohtashim Shaikh ,Most probably, the problem is you are running the client as a normal user and not root. Could you please try as root. I will update this article after you confirm.

Mohtashim Shaikh

Apr 09, 2012

Apologies for the late reply..

I tried using root but to no avail.

Johan Horak

Apr 22, 2012

Great write up. Was looking for a procedure to use it. But could find none. I will share it on Google+

Ronnie Bincer

Apr 22, 2012

Got any other way to make the Mac play nice with Wireless and Android?

Arun

Apr 23, 2012

Thank you Johan Horak :DWould you be kind enough to share it? It would be really great to add a like to it in this page. Will help a lot of folks.

Arun

Apr 23, 2012

Unfortunately, both these apps support only Windows and Linux as of now Ronnie Bincer . There were plans for droidcam to release a Mac client too, but seems it has not yet come out :DSince Android and iPhone are tough competitors, guess google also would not be keen to support app writers who make android apps Mac compatible :(

Johan Horak

Apr 23, 2012

Ronnie. For an android phone and Mac: I bought the Pocketcam app. It was the easy option out for me.

Dougm1966

May 20, 2012

Are you still watching this thread? I hope so. I want to say THANK YOU in a BIG BIG way for your write up on this topic. I have to admit I understood and have installed the IP Cam, installed the drivers and they show up as available in hangouts but they don't 'stick'. After I click a different cam they revert back to the installed laptop cam. Any tips?

ThinkLiveCreative

May 25, 2012

I have had the same problem. Im using Windows Vista and have an Android phone connected via Wi-Fi using IP Webcam. In Google+ Hangouts settings, I have the ViXS PureTV Capture which comes up as default and MJEPG camera as the option. When I try to select the MJPEG camera to become the main one, the settings automatically reverts back to ViXS. Has anyone figured a solution to this. I would really like this to work out, if possible. Or should I just switch to another Android app.

ThinkLiveCreative

May 25, 2012

UPDATE:I decided to try the DroidCam solution and it turned out to be a good choice. It took a few minutes to load and configure the options but I followed the direction above and it seems to connect via USB and sticks to the DroidCam selection in the settings with no problem. I did not invite any one for a Hangout, but will be trying it with some of my students in a few days. If you have any luck with it, please hit me up. I'm curious if this works as well for others as it has, so far for me.

Prasanna Sridhar

May 28, 2012

I was searching for using android phone cam as a webcam and i came across this page.... Awesome Arun .... seriously..... i read this and started using IP webcam and droidcam server using a portable hotspot from my phone.... and it works like a charm.... thanks dude... i think for usb connection we need adb.... will be helpful if u can post about it too..

- android noob

Arun

May 29, 2012

Thanks for the kind words Prasanna Sridhar :)Yes, you need adb for the USB connection. It is there in the article pointing to another website. I will add one on mine too :)

Marek Brenčič

Jun 03, 2012

Hey guys, same in here :(

DCalarco

Sep 09, 2012

I have the webcam working perfectly, but i can't get audio. It is enabled on IPWebcam and sound is working on the pc, but no audio is streamed. What to do?

Arun

Sep 10, 2012

I too never got the sound alright from the phone DCalarco . Better use a microphone unfortunately :(

Uzma

Sep 18, 2012

hi, i have DROID RAZR fone n by mistake i set it on fectory setting n now its useless. Every thing is deleted mean all application.Please guide me what to do to make it useable again. thanx

Alibaba505

Jan 27, 2013

Dont work for me. Poore program.

Arun

Feb 03, 2013

Did you try out both programs?

paul

Aug 05, 2013

Hello,ive installed the cam on my laptop,win 7,but when i try and register i get asked to copy and paste the agreement,but it wont let me copy/paste,any ideas please,

Thanks.

Arun

Aug 06, 2013

Don't get you.... which app are you trying to use?

http://www.geekaacademy.net

Oct 21, 2014

Using Droid cam was a good idea for me but i could not use it as fullscreen mode.

Vijaya Raghavan Venkatesan

Nov 22, 2014

As per the instruction i did everything..but i cant get connected through usb..anyone pls help me.after selecting usb option camera is not opening

John

kelemvor

Any way to do this with 2 cell phones? Set one cell phone aimed at what you want to see and then watch it live from a second phone? Android...

zayn

Mar 04, 2015

its not working for me ...

Arun

Jun 28, 2015

Yes you can Saad.

Arun

Jul 20, 2016

USB will always give a higher quality.

Arun

Feb 02, 2017

Thanks Fabio, great to know it worked seamlessly for you.

Arun

Feb 02, 2017

Thanks, glad to know Cygakob

tudy

Jul 31, 2018

IP Webcam is junk even with a S9+...we might as well use our TV if we have a somewhat decent tv just connect your phone with it to show the phones screen and then you can see the camera on the tv's screen

Raphael Nollau (CaMoWo)

Aug 07, 2018

If I use USB Debugging, is it possible to make the phone a Video Device for Windows (So I can use it for OBS or video calls)?

About the Author

Arun is a Tech columist and founder of Skipser, a widely read how-to blog since 2011. You can know more about me here.Email:arun@skipser.com

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